When color or other images are superimposed on facial parts, such as the eyes, mouth, and nose, of a face image of a subject or on the areas surrounding the facial parts to form a makeup simulation image, it is required to detect the positions of the facial parts, such as the eyes, mouth, and nose, of the face image.
In addition, when a hairstyle model image is superimposed on a face image of a subject to form a hairstyle simulation image, the positions of the eyes are detected to adjust the sizes of the images and to align the positions of the images. Moreover, the detection of the positions of the eyes is also performed, for example, to mask the eyes of a face image, to perform frame processing of a face image, and to produce an image for personal identification.
In an exemplary conventional method used for detecting the positions of the eyes in a face image, a skin-color region is extracted to detect the face, and then the eyes are detected using, for example, pattern matching (Non-Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 1).
[Non-Patent Document 1] “Method for detecting facial feature points that allows high-speed and high-reliability face detection,” The winning paper of the 5-th LSI IP design award, 2005, Nikkei Business Publications, Inc.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-94917.